The Meg
The Meg is an 2018 American science fiction action horror film directed by Jon Turteltaub and written by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, based on the 1997 science fiction book Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten. The film stars Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, and Cliff Curtis, and follows a group of scientists who must stop a 75-foot Megalodon shark from terrorizing a beach. Disney originally purchased the film rights to the book in the 1990s, but eventually sold the rights to Warner Bros. Turteltaub and much of the cast joined by September 2016, and filming began the following month in New Zealand. An American-Chinese co-production, The Meg is scheduled to be released in both countries on August 10, 2018, in Real D 3D, Dolby Cinema, and IMAX. Plot Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) attempts to rescue other divers, among them Dr. Heller (Robert Taylor), from a massive, underwater shark attack. Taylor is able to rescue some but refuses to go back to save the rest, having realized that going back for the rest would mean the death of all. Five years later, Jack Morris (Rainn Wilson) meets Dr. Minway Zhang (Winston Chao) and his daughter Suyin (Li Bingbing) at a modern underwater research facility called "Mana One". A mission to dive further into the depths of the ocean is being conducted with Celeste (Jessica McNamee), Toshi (Masi Oka) and the Wall (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) and is being supervised by DJ (Page Kennedy), Jaxx Heard (Ruby Rose), James "Mac" Mackreides (Cliff Curtis), as well as Dr. Heller, at the station. The mission appears to be going well, until a large object hits the ship and causes it to lose contact with Morris, Zhang and Suyin. Mac suggests sending Taylor down to attempt a rescue, after he suspects the object which hit the underwater ship to be Megalodon, a giant shark thought to have been extinct. Dr. Heller objects, but Zhang and Mac decide to travel to Thailand to recruit him anyways. In the meantime, Suyin decides to attempt a rescue herself. Taylor follows her and ends up rescuing the Wall and Celeste. However, Toshi, realizing that the Megalodon would kill all crew members immediately, closes the passage to his ship and leaves to die while giving passage to Taylor, Celeste and the Wall. Back at Mana One, the station receives a signal that sharks have broken through the depths of the ocean - including the Megalodon. What follows is an attempt to track and inject poison into the Megalodon. While the crew does succeed in doing that with a shark, they kill the wrong one and the Megalodon attacks the crew, eating Dr. Heller and the Wall and Jaxx Herd and causing a fatal injury to Zhang. The rest moves back to the Mana One. Morris decides to take out the Megalodon himself with grenades thrown from a helicopter. However, he accidentally kills a whale instead and then gets eaten by the Megalodon. Taylor and the crew realize that the Megalodon is en route to a local Chinese beach, full of attendees. There, the Megalodon causes havoc and eats a number of beachgoers. The crew decides to save the local beachgoers by attracting the Megalodon. Taylor manages to scratch the Megalodon and attract other sharks to eat it, thus killing it. Having killed the Megalodon, Taylor and his crew reunite at a private boat used by a Chinese couple. Cast * Jason Statham as Jonas Taylor * Li Bingbing as Suyin Zhang * Rainn Wilson as Jack Morris * Ruby Rose as Jaxx Herd * Winston Chao as Dr. Minway Zhang * Cliff Curtis as James "Mac" Mackreides * Page Kennedy as DJ * Jessica McNamee as Celeste Singer * Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as The Wall * Robert Taylor as Dr. Heller * Shuya Sophia Cai as Meiying * Masi Oka as Toshi * Rob Kipa-Williams as D'Angelo * Tawanda Manyimo as Marks Production Initially the rights to the book were acquired by Disney in 1997, however by 2015 they had passed to Warner Bros. By June of that year Eli Roth was reported to be in talks to direct, although Jon Turteltaub would ultimately end up directing. Principal photography on the film began on October 13, 2016 in West Auckland, New Zealand. Principal photography ended on January 11, 2017. Release The Meg was scheduled to be released by Gravity Pictures in China and Warner Bros. in the United States on March 2, 2018. Presenting companies Warner Bros. Pictures and China’s Gravity Pictures said that the film will release during the 2018 Chinese New Year period in China. The week-long annual holidays kicked off on February 16, 2018, some two weeks ahead of the March 2, 2018 date. The Meg was then pushed back to be released on August 10, 2018, in 3D and IMAX. The first official trailer was released on YouTube on April 9, 2018. External links *Official website *[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779682/ The Meg] on IMDb Category:2018 horror films Category:2010s action thriller films Category:2010s monster movies Category:2010s science fiction films Category:2018 3D films Category:American films Category:American action thriller films Category:American monster movies Category:Action horror films Category:English-language films Category:Films about sharks Category:Films based on American thriller novels Category:Films based on science fiction novels Category:Films directed by Jon Turteltaub Category:Film scores by Harry Gregson-Williams Category:Films shot in Asia Category:Films shot in China Category:Films shot in Japan Category:Films shot in Hainan Category:Films shot in New Zealand Category:Films shot in Tokyo Category:Films set in Asia Category:Films set in China Category:Films set in Hainan Category:Films set in Japan Category:Films set in Oceania Category:Films set in the Pacific Ocean Category:Films set in Tokyo Category:Flagship Entertainment films Category:Giant monster films Category:Government in fiction Category:Horror comedy films Category:Kaiju films Category:Killer shark films Category:Robot films Category:Robots in fiction Category:Submarine films Category:Underwater action films Category:Upcoming horror films Category:Upcoming IMAX films Category:Warner Bros. films Category:Film scores by Stephanie Economou